Review: Uncharted Territory Season 1, Episode 13

byThatRoseTattoo •
0

Uncharted Territory, Season 1 Episode 13
Original Air Date: June 26, 2019 (Re-aired May 13, 2020)
Episode Venue: White Eagle in Worcester, MA
Streaming on IWTV.live
Episode 13 actually seemed as if everyone in each match progressively tried to outdo everyone who came before and everyone who followed. Seriously, it’s one of those situations where it’s a near-perfect show and everything on the card knocked it out of the park. Past shows have featured some standout classics and bangers, but out of all of this episode it would be very difficult for me to determine the best match. I mean damn, even the one match that ended in a no-contest was still full of excitement and suspense.
On Commentary: Paul Crockett, Sidney Bakabella, Wheeler Yuta
This was Yuta’s first time on Uncharted Territory commentary (sitting in Bakabella’s place for the second match) and I’m surprised they’d not asked him to do the duty before. He’s fun! It was good to have him on commentary for the Silver vs. O’Neil match too, as it helped along the storyline feud as well as gave a fresh perspective on the match.
Match 1: Shotzi Blackheart vs. Solo Darling
Somewhere there’s likely someone making a compilation video titled something like “The Best of NXT Superstar Shotzi Blackheart”, and they’re gonna have their work cut out for them because that’s going to be a volume one and two deal. And somewhere on that compilation, this match needs to be listed prominently. Shotzi’s last run on the indies was stellar, from her work in Bizarro Lucha all the way to Beyond she made sure she had a name going into the Performance Center. Solo, who has also worked with WWE, should also be prominent on their radar especially after the past year she’s had. Hard-hitting opening match it was, and Solo takes the win via submission Sharpstinger.


Match 2: Chuck O’Neil vs. John Silver
For anyone who thinks that every match has to have 6’2+ linebackers to be considered a classic, please allow Beyond to introduce you to this match. I love it when ridiculous notions about wrestling get destroyed as hard as these two tried to destroy each other. Sure, upon first glance you notice the height difference between O’Neil and Silver, but only a fool would think the fight was uneven. Silver’s kicks have a way of leveling the playing field. Add that to the fact that the Meat Man is also freakishly strong enough to throw a man as large as Chuck O’Neil around and you’ve got yourself a hell of a match. Every match on this episode went hard but I’ve got a preference for this one. 


O’Neil wins via armbar submission, but after the match Silver is attacked by his former tag partner (and current Dark Order cohort in AEW) Alex Reynolds. Yuta, who has been on commentary, intervenes on Silver’s behalf...but don’t forget about Chuck! Yuta and Chuck are left battling it out for a moment, but Yuta won’t back down easily at all from Cold Steel. It’ll take a match to settle this.
Match 3: Christian Casanova (w/Cam Zagami) vs. ‘Legit’ Leyla Hirsch (Discovery Gauntlet match)
For this episode we have the all new Cam Zagami accompanying Christian Casanova to the ring. CC and Cam are on a roll this week, they joined forces to oust Thomas Santell from the Gauntlet and now Cam’s got a new (bad) attitude to go with his overly bright and shiny clothes. But with all of this pomp and braggadocio, one question looms large - did Casanova really need Cam’s assistance to beat Santell, anyway?
If you’re judging by Casanova’s technique in this match, then hell no he didn’t need any help. Leyla Hirsch is a stack of dynamite and brought an absolute battle to this Gauntlet match, but Christian Casanova is damn good. Cam did his part playing the overly smug cheering section as Casanova took the win, keeping his place atop the Gauntlet (with Cam tagging along) for another week.


Match 4: Chris Dickinson vs. Matthew Justice
This match was my first time seeing Matthew Justice, and I was immediately hooked by this crazy guy swinging chairs and sending people crashing through doors. Hell of a match for me to find out about Justice, too, because he and Captain Dickey damn near tore the White Eagle down. Go back and watch this one for all of the wild shit that went down, but especially for the Dirty Daddy’s Pazuzu Bomb on Justice straight through a door and right on to the hard floor. Definite high re-watchable factor with this match. Dickinson wins after 15 minutes of sheer bliss for fans who enjoy watching pure crazy and absolute savage come together.


Match 5: Razerhawk, Green Ant & Thief Ant vs. Cajun Crawdad, Cornelius Crummels & Sonny Defarge
Ain’t no trios match like a CHIKARA trios match! This six-man tag originated on episode 12 when Cajun Crawdad interfered in the ending of Razerhawk & Green Ant’s match with Crummels & Defarge. Now the score has evened up with Thief Ant joining the battle, and this one went faster than any average tag match you’ve seen lately. This is trios, baby. Action everywhere and both teams looking fantastic. However, right when it looked as if the birb and the ants would finish the fight victoriously, Cajun Crawdad’s tag team partner the Hermit Crab showed up this time to run interference. In return, this awarded Razerhawk and The Colony the victory via disqualification. What is it with these crustaceans that can’t keep their claws to themselves?


Match 6: Nick Gage vs. Richard Holliday
As much as we wanted to see the King of This Shit choke the rarified air out of the Most Marketable one, this episode would not deliver on that satisfaction. Not yet, at least. What we got instead was a ruse; Holliday led Gage into a fight outside of the ring where almost immediately Kenn Doane got involved, ending the match in a no-contest. Doane and Holliday proceeded to give Gage a beatdown that did not last long, as an unlikely ally would break up their fun and games. Thomas Santell came to the ring and cleared house much to the surprise of everyone, including Nick Gage. Despite Santell’s best efforts and good intentions, Gage wasn’t accepting any assistance on his behalf on this occasion and he let Santell know it.


Match 7: Kris Statlander vs. Josh Briggs
I’m really hoping one day AEW will introduce more intergender matches to its audience so that Kris Statlander can shine as bright as she did in this main event. When I was new to Beyond and Uncharted Territory I wasn’t used to seeing men and women mix it up in the ring; Briggs vs. Statlander was one that opened my eyes to how great these matches are. It helps that Briggs was an excellent storyteller here, starting the match out holding back on his efforts in an attempt to maintain some sort of chivalry. Statlander wasn’t having that at all, and as the match progressed it was awesome to see her bring the beast out of Josh and get him to realize she’s on his level. Once Briggs hit monster mode, though, it was on for the rest of the match and he held nothing back. Both Statlander and Briggs were relentless against one another; once one thought the other was done for they’d somehow find the fortitude to kick out at two. Just like with Janela, Briggs would have to pull out all the stops and then some to finally get the win over Statlander. He did just that with a brutal chokebomb, proving to all in attendance and all watching along that Briggs is back for good.


Post-Show Thoughts
Another great episode as we head into the end of Season 1 and toward Americanrana ‘19, which Beyond did a wonderful job promoting throughout the latter half of the season. This one in particular proves that you don’t necessarily have to have a packed and stacked card to have an amazing show. In fact, this show felt like the earlier episodes in the season where there were less matches and more time given for everyone to build their character and ‘get their shit in’, so to speak. Good stuff indeed.
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